


As The Devil Spoke

by aftersundown



Category: Psycho-Pass
Genre: Aftermath of Torture, F/M, Fic Pain War, GINAKA, Hurt/Comfort, Starvation, in an already dystopian world so..., somewhat apocalyptic AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-13
Updated: 2016-03-13
Packaged: 2018-05-26 11:13:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,185
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6236425
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aftersundown/pseuds/aftersundown
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I had a darkly-themed Psycho-Pass dream last night. Then this happened. *whips out Fic War machine gun*</p>
            </blockquote>





	As The Devil Spoke

**Author's Note:**

> Title and much inspiration taken from lyrics of the songs "Dorian" and "Fuel to Fire" by Agnes Obel, in all their quiet gentle destruction. Both songs go hand-in-hand with this fic.

Akane lunged, tugged and twisted, to try and break free. But her captors only tightened their hands around her arms until she felt only razor sharp pain. The cell door is opened, before they give her a kick that sends her hurtling to the ground. Her ears were attuned, to the incredible bellow of citizens far above, rioting and tearing the city apart, even though this prison was miles under the earth. 

She was the last to be captured and brought here, after several days of eluding her predators successfully. But the numbers of Division One had been watered down so gradually, its strength and efficiency hammered to pieces. Ginoza disappeared off the radar first, close to three weeks before, followed by Mika not two days after, then eventually Hinakawa, Sugo, Yayoi and even Shion.

Akane's captors seemed to know about her closeness with Hound One...

They seemed to read her mind, at this very moment.

"I wouldn't count on him surviving. He's been here nineteen days,” the man that had been on her left snarled behind her. “All I see is a slab of flesh."

“Water is all we’ll give. Sparingly,” his accomplice, a woman, growled under her breath.

Each of the two guards let out roaring laughter. The door is bolted shut. Akane stumbles to her feet to meet everyone else's gaze - that is, everyone but one of the Enforcers.

Ginoza's head rested in Sugo's lap, eyes snapped shut. Sugo’s brow creased up in a manner that did not reflect optimism. He had both hands on his friend’s shoulders, gripping them to try keep him aware, and present. He whispered something in Ginoza’s ear, but the latter made no move. Yayoi held Ginoza’s right hand tightly, looking drained, her own thoughts growing cloudy and jagged by the minute. Akane could've sworn her own heart had stopped. Her lover's breathing was so laboured, chest rising and falling but with much effort. He had been in this cell the longest, out of them all. She had been on the run for a number of days herself. But today, a misstep caused her to blow her cover. Images of Ginoza’s mortified countenance were overbearing in her head, to the point that she’d turned a split second late, and the taser gun seen from the corner of her eye acted at deadly speed. 

As she passed her eye around now, she noticed the walls of the cell boasted eerie carvings. She imagined the howls and deadened eyes of those who had scrawled in those writings in the past. Worse was the silence and lack of greeting from her teammates. She wasn't sure they preferred her cooped up with them in here, or not knowing if she'd met her demise or was to meet her end out in the field. Yet, how was she to get them out remotely, when they were encased in this old-fashioned underground facility that was shielded from all forms of radio waves?

She could understand that they were caught up in the fogs of their own thoughts. Shion had an arm around Mika, but was herself trapped in a haze of the mind. All she remembered was she had expected Yayoi to turn up when the doors slid open, before the reflections of noiseless shadows bled across her screens, then nothing. It spooked the analyst how quickly the plans of the enemy had been executed. Mika was drained dry of ideas, lost in contemplation with eyes too fixed on the floor. Hinakawa sat some distance away, riddled with anxiety and dread, trembling with face tucked behind closed fists.

Without looking up, Shion muttered gravely, “We’ve been doing our best to keep his thinking sharp. But...Yayoi says that as of four days ago, he hasn’t budged from that spot. Almost completely motionless.” The analyst hung her head, eyes closing momentarily. 

Akane hurriedly approached her friends. The guards had confiscated her water canteen, dry food stash, and other supplies that had kept her going while she was in hiding. She couldn't provide Ginoza with nourishment, to buy him strength, and thus time. But in case no one would make it out of this alive, she wanted to give him strength in the form of all her love, and more of such love. 

She knelt down low, her face just inches from his. 

“It’s me,” she painfully shapes her lips into a smile.

Then, a tiny but sudden shift in the way he was sprawled out. His eyes remained closed. Sounds began to escape his lips, nothing but incoherent. But those lips continued to quiver. He kept trying to form words, but to no avail. Akane felt the back of her nose and eyes burn, as she saw how fear accompanied the pain of hunger, impeded the oratory. 

"I…I'm sorry," she croaked, "I don't understand." 

He only tries harder, a slight crescendo in his tones that only warranted pity. She admires him for being so strong.

She cannot piece together what he is trying to say, and the best she does is assume he is calling her name.

Her heart sank and stiffened some more. She let her head fall softly onto his limp form and the rest of Division One saw how her chest heaved, how her muffled gasps filled the chamber. For she could listen and hear Ginoza's pulse – weak, below a normal rate - his heart exhausting itself in order to keep him alive. 

He was within an inch of his life. He stirred, and Akane caught sight of those green glassy eyes. Eyes she wanted to swim in forever.

They had both journeyed so far since that night, by an abolition block peppered with neon lights. A night when he was still clad in a shade of blue she was too well-acquainted with, steely-eyed, while she trudged through the driving rain to take on a burden like no other. The clearing of a throat pulled Akane out of her reminiscing. 

“Here, why don’t you hold him,” said Sugo, solemnly. 

Immediately, Akane clambered into position, as the kind-hearted Enforcer let her take his place. Laying Hound One’s head upon her lap, she took in what remaining warmth he radiated. Because of the pain searing the area of his abdomen, he had to force his eyes shut once more, squinting and cringing to cope.

From his mouth came small coughs and sputters - the arduous attempt to carry on breathing, a throat so parched; hope so frail. But he was hanging on, and that is what mattered. Mustering strength, he shifted his head so he was leaning in closer, so she too could treasure his touch. Akane rested her forehead right above his as she cradled him, and it felt like pieces of a puzzle were knit together as they should be.

"I won't let you die," she soothed him, so softly, tearfully, voice as thin as paper. 

An idea flashed to life, taking form in her mind. The Inspector thanked the stars that her mind could still be so quick and bright, amidst the burden of heartache.

"I won't lose any of you."


End file.
